The Reading Room

Democracy in America, a Reading Room essay

On Democracy in America

Michael Fowler

It took a young French aristocrat to see American civic life more clearly than the Americans did.

On Democracy in America

Michael Fowler

It took a young French aristocrat to see American civic life more clearly than the Americans did.

The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, a Reading Room essay

On The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

Michael Fowler

Thomas Jefferson is the most eloquent contradiction in the American founding, and his collected writings are where the contradiction lives in full.

On The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

Michael Fowler

Thomas Jefferson is the most eloquent contradiction in the American founding, and his collected writings are where the contradiction lives in full.

The Sedition Act Materials, a Reading Room essay

On The Sedition Act Materials

Michael Fowler

Seven years after the First Amendment promised that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, Congress made exactly such a law, and prosecuted...

On The Sedition Act Materials

Michael Fowler

Seven years after the First Amendment promised that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, Congress made exactly such a law, and prosecuted...

On Liberty, a Reading Room essay

Reading On Liberty

Michael Fowler

On Liberty is the clearest defense ever written of the freedom to be wrong.

Reading On Liberty

Michael Fowler

On Liberty is the clearest defense ever written of the freedom to be wrong.

Considerations on Representative Government, a Reading Room essay

On Considerations on Representative Government

Michael Fowler

If On Liberty is Mill on the freedom of the individual, Considerations on Representative Government is Mill on the machinery of self-rule, how a free people actually governs itself through...

On Considerations on Representative Government

Michael Fowler

If On Liberty is Mill on the freedom of the individual, Considerations on Representative Government is Mill on the machinery of self-rule, how a free people actually governs itself through...

Civil Disobedience, a Reading Room essay

On Civil Disobedience

Michael Fowler

A single night in jail over an unpaid tax became the seed of the most influential American essay on conscience ever written.

On Civil Disobedience

Michael Fowler

A single night in jail over an unpaid tax became the seed of the most influential American essay on conscience ever written.